Author Archive / Mike Duquette

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Blues, Classic Rock, Rock

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Eric Clapton

The Weekend Stream: January 25, 2025

January 25, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! A quiet week previews a new album by The Doobie Brothers, revisits the latest from one of TSD’s favorite indie singer-songwriters, and so much more – plus a reminder of how you can help one of our favorite reissue labels, one that’s been affected by the ongoing fires in California. Doobie Brothers, Walk This Road (Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) The Doobie Brothers are giving a preview of their…

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Classic Rock, Comedy, Country, Disco/Dance, Folk, Latin, Rock

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Ernie Kovacs, Hank Snow, Livingston Taylor, Steve Wariner, The Doobie Brothers

Sweet Soul Dream: World Party’s ‘Best in Show’ Gets Expanded

January 24, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

The work of the late musical polymath Karl Wallinger will be revisited this year with a worldwide expanded release of the sole compilation credited to his project World Party. Originally released in certain territories (and not his native United Kingdom) to promote a tour in 2007, Best in Show was rather cynically designed in sequence with World Party’s most popular tracks on digital music shops, thus kicking off with debut single “Ship of Fools” and originally featuring no less than seven tracks from their successful sophomore album Goodbye Jumbo (1990). This new release, available…

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

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Rock

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World Party

Takin’ on a New Direction: Tina Turner’s ‘Private Dancer’ Set for 40th Anniversary Box Set

January 23, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

The album that unquestionably coronated Tina Turner as the Queen of Rock and Roll will be celebrated with a new deluxe box set this spring: 1984’s blockbuster Private Dancer. Available March 21, the album – featuring the hits “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “Better Be Good to Me,” the scintillating title track and more – will be reissued as a 5CD/Blu-ray deluxe box packed with rare B-sides, remixes, additional studio material from the Private Dancer era (including the unreleased “Hot for You Baby,” which you can hear below), selections from two…

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Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Bryan Adams, David Bowie, Tina Turner

Madness is the Gift: Disturbed Celebrate 25 Years of Debut Album with New Box Set

January 23, 2025 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

One of the first big metal debut albums of the 2000s will be expanded for its 25th anniversary: Disturbed’s The Sickness. The Chicago group’s breakthrough (previously reissued for its 10th anniversary just around when The Second Disc was getting started!) will be repackaged as a deluxe 3CD/1LP box set featuring seven unheard demos, three soundtrack rarities, a new mix of “Glass Shatters” (a celebrated entrance theme for WWE superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin), and a live bonus disc featuring an unreleased set from The Palladium in Los Angeles recorded in 2001 and two…

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Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Rock

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Disturbed

Life’s What They Made It: Slightly Expanded Talk Talk Compilation Gets CD, Vinyl Release

January 23, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 7 Comments

Nearly two decades after its original release, a compilation from U.K. band Talk Talk will be dusted off and reconfigured for reissue. 1997’s The Very Best of Talk Talk was, at the time, a pretty standard affair – a postmortem of the band’s evolution from New Romantic hitmakers to ambitious art-rock ensemble, six years after the band took their final bow. Modestly promoted, it missed the U.K. Top 40 but still was a gold seller in England. Now, it’s being reissued on CD and, for the first time, double vinyl, in slightly altered…

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Pop, Rock

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Talk Talk

Soundtrack Watch: Intrada, La-La Land Kick Off 2025 with a Bang

January 21, 2025 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

The last few months were positively packed with soundtrack reissues – not one, but two Black Friday-sized batches from La-La Land, and a generous array of in-demand titles from Intrada, as well. Well, if you can believe it, those roll-outs could have been even bigger – and La-La Land and Intrada are proving it with their first releases of 2025 (for LLL, all titles that were meant to release last year). There’s something for everyone: music from a Jim Henson cult classic, an action-packed sequel scored by a legendary pop producer, a…

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Soundtracks

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Gladys Knight, John Williams, Michael Kamen, Nile Rodgers, Patti Labelle, Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, The Sherman Brothers, Trevor Jones

Sex Pistols’ American Epitaph Chronicled in New Box Set

January 15, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

The story of the Sex Pistols’ final tour – and ultimate undoing – will be told in new releases coming from UMC in March. Live in the U.S.A. 1978 will mark the first complete and official releases of three of the punk quartet’s seven American concerts in January 1978. Presented for the first time in sequence are the tour’s opener at the South East Music Hall in Atlanta, Georgia on January 5, a particularly raucous performance at Dallas, Texas’ Longhorns Ballroom five days later, and the premature conclusion of both the tour…

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Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Rock

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Sex Pistols

Ain’t Nobody: Rufus’ Final Albums Reissued in New Robinsongs Set

January 15, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 3 Comments

A forthcoming two-for-one set from Robinsongs will chronicle the last works of funk legends Rufus – including their powerful final bow with singer Chaka Khan. The label will release the 1983 studio album Seal in Red and live/studio hybrid Stompin’ At The Savoy – Live as a 2CD set on March 14. The set will feature new liner notes by Lois Wilson of MOJO as well as three bonus tracks, including single versions of “Take It to the Top” and the smash hit “Ain’t Nobody,” as well as a rare remix of the…

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Disco/Dance, Funk, Pop, R&B/Soul

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Chaka Khan, Rufus

Dead or Alive’s ‘Youthquake’ Spins Around Into New Deluxe Edition

January 15, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 8 Comments

This winter, Edsel will continue its long association with the Dead or Alive catalogue with a new deluxe edition of the band’s 1985 breakthrough Youthquake, to be reissued February 21 for its 40th anniversary. The 4CD set (in double gatefold packaging with an O-ring joining the two) collects a new remaster of the album, 18 remixes (including a whole disc devoted to period and latter-day versions of hit single “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” and a live set taken from two nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in the summer of 1985….

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Dead or Alive, Stock Aitken Waterman

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Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Disco/Dance, Pop

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Love Changes (Everything): Cherry Pop Expands Climie Fisher Discography

January 13, 2025 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

Two reissues by Cherry Red, separated by nearly a year, collect the brief but intriguing discography of late-’80s U.K. duo Climie Fisher – including a raft of rare and unreleased bonus material totaling seven discs between them. The wait is finally over for fans of the group when Climie Fisher’s 1987 debut Everything gets a major expansion from the Cherry Pop imprint on March 21. The set features the remastered album and a whopping 51 bonus tracks: versions and remixes of singles “Love Changes (Everything),” “Rise to the Occasion,” “I Won’t Bleed for…

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A “Souvenir” from Sony Music Japan: An Expansion of Billy Joel’s ‘Streetlife Serenade’

January 13, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 9 Comments

Here’s a belated 50th anniversary present for Billy Joel fans: a new, Japan-exclusive collector’s edition of his third studio album, 1974’s Streetlife Serenade. Available February 19, this lavish deluxe version – which follows a similar package for its predecessor Piano Man last year – includes many similar extras. The 7″ cardboard packaging includes lyrics and liner notes in English and Japanese (including a CD-sized replica of the original booklet that came with the Japanese LP), replicas of four international 45 RPM single picture sleeves (Portuguese, German, Dutch and Japanese), two obi strips (including…

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Formats:

CD, SACD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, Rock

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Billy Joel

The Weekend Stream: January 11, 2025

January 11, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 4 Comments

Welcome to 2025’s first edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! We’re catching up on some of our favorite artists adding albums to stream and download, plus country soul and remixes aplenty – as well as a list of resources to help our friends and family in the music business affected by the California wildfires. The Damnwells, One Last Century / No One Listens to the Band Anymore (Poor Man) Century: iTunes / Amazon No One: iTunes / Amazon Last month, Brooklyn-born…

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Blues, Disco/Dance, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock

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Brownstone, Dobie Gray, INXS, Kanye West, Michael Jackson, The Damnwells, Was (Not Was)

Just Like Paradise: David Lee Roth’s Solo Works Remastered for New Box Set

January 9, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

Diamond Dave’s got a whole new shine, thanks to a forthcoming box set from Rhino. David Lee Roth’s The Warner Recordings 1985-1994, coming February 21, will include the four LPs (and one EP) the iconoclastic singer released outside of his concluding tenure as the vocalist for Van Halen. All of the albums have been newly remastered, and will be available at general retailers as a 5CD set. (Rhino’s official store will exclusively carry a vinyl version.) Roth’s solo career began four decades ago this year, in the wake of Van Halen’s biggest commercial…

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Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, Rock

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David Lee Roth, Nile Rodgers, Steve Vai

Like a Beast: W.A.S.P. Box Set Coming to CD from Madfish

January 9, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

After not one but two pressings on vinyl over the last two years, Madfish Music will release their collection of heavy metal band W.A.S.P.’s major label material on CD this month. The 7 Savage 1984-1992 collects all six of the L.A. shock rockers’ studio and live releases for Capitol Records, along with a newly-compiled assortment of 15 non-LP tracks (three more than the equivalent disc in the vinyl box). The slipcased set also features a CD-sized version of the 60-page hardcover book that came with the vinyl set, featuring exclusive photos and liner…

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Hold On to What We’ve Got: Bon Jovi Expands ‘Slippery When Wet’

January 8, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 7 Comments

After celebrating their debut album with a deluxe edition last year, Bon Jovi will offer similar treatment to their biggest album: 1986’s Slippery When Wet. The New Jersey rockers’ third LP will be reissued February 28 in a variety of formats including a 2CD expansion with seven bonus tracks (nearly all of which are previously unreleased) as well as a picture disc, cassette and – novelty alert! – a clear vinyl pressing filled with liquid. Everything aside from the 2CD is limited in quantities – 1500 for the picture disc, 1300 for the…

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

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Classic Rock, Pop, Rock

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Bon Jovi

Quartet’s First Film Music Release of 2025 is Barry, Barry Good

January 7, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

As if the feast of John Barry expanded film scores, from James Bond to Out of Africa, hasn’t been exciting enough, Quartet Records kicked off the new year with the announcement of more rarities from the celebrated British composer. The label has issued The Polydor Years, a 3CD collection that brings together re-recordings of classic themes, unique arrangements and original music released on albums, singles and compilations in the mid-’70s in Europe. 1972’s The Concert John Barry, 1974’s Play It Again and 1976’s unique Americans have been exceedingly rare to come by on CD, released only in…

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Southern Part of Japan: Archival Live Album from War Due Soon

January 6, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

Following some heavy-duty offerings from West Coast funk masters War, including an expansion of The World is a Ghetto and a box set of latter-day studio work for last year’s Record Store Day Black Friday – Rhino kicks off 2025 with a release of previously unheard live material from the band’s tour of Japan, more than half a century ago and featuring the band’s classic line-up. Live in Japan 1974 will be available worldwide as a 2CD or 2LP set on February 5. The set includes 14 tracks (three less on the vinyl)…

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Funk, R&B/Soul

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War

The Weekend Stream: December 21, 2024 – and a Merry Discmas to All!

December 21, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 11 Comments

Welcome to 2024’s final edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! With no Release Round-Up this Friday and a few weeks of peace and quite from (and for!) us until 2025, we’ve got a few more treats for you under the tree from Wham!, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Archie Bell & The Drells and so much more! Wham!, Last Christmas (Epic/Legacy/Sony Music U.K.) (iTunes / Amazon) For its 40th anniversary, Wham!’s holiday classic was reissued on various physical…

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Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews

Genres:

Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

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Aphex Twin, Archie Bell and the Drells, Bruce Springsteen, Earth Wind and Fire, Elton John, George Michael, INXS, John Williams, Miles Davis, Wham!

Holiday Gift Guide Review: ‘Dearly Beloved: A Prince Celebration’

December 20, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 3 Comments

The holidays are a time of good cheer and gratitude, where we all (in theory) come together to share in a common joy. There has not been a lot of common joy if you’re a Prince fan; we don’t need to re-litigate it more than we did this summer, but it’s worth noting that the quest to make intriguing, posthumous Prince projects under the current estate organization has maybe gotten worse than when we published our editorial. But there have been celebrations of The Purple One that honor his restless creative spirit….

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Country, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Everything Else, Funk, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Andre Cymone, Dead or Alive, Kenny Rogers, Martika, Paula Abdul, Prince, Robyn, Stephanie Mills, The Bangles, The Pointer Sisters

Soundtrack Watch: Intrada’s Last 2024 Score Reissues Include ‘Out of Africa,’ ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ and More

December 17, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

If the holidays are a time to release the biggest archival film scores on CD, Intrada certainly got the memo! Among their last reissues of 2024 include an expanded version of an Oscar winner by John Barry, a premiere release of a Maurice Jarre favorite, a reissue of a stalwart album by Jerry Goldsmith and a new recording of a beloved work from Dimitri Tiomkin – plus a soundtrack to a documentary on one of the better-known songwriters/scorers of the ’70s. While Barry certainly gets accolades for his work with the James…

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Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews

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Soundtracks

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Charles Fox, Dimitri Tiomkin, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, Maurice Jarre

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Steve Martin, ‘Steve in a Box’

December 16, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

At this point in time, CD box sets have been a going concern (especially around the holidays) for nearly 40 years. Thousands of them have been released, and with the unexpected shift toward listening on vinyl (who’d have thought?) and digital (particularly streaming, which has a near-total grasp on music consumption today), you’ve got to have a really strong angle to encourage fans to part with some extra money and add new titles to their shelves. What more can be done? you (and sometimes we at The Second Disc) wonder. Stand-up comedy…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Comedy

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Steve Martin, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The Weekend Stream: December 14, 2024

December 14, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 3 Comments

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We’ve got Christmas cheer from The Damnwells and Jody Miller, a Record Store Day reissue from Tegan and Sara, mid-’70s fun from The Flying Burrito Brothers to Freddie Prinze and a new spin on a John Williams classic. Plus, a way to help a dear friend and collaborator of the TSD team. The Damnwells, Xmas Eve (Poor Man/Pasadena Records) (iTunes / Amazon) Cult-favorite Brooklyn-bred quartet The Damnwells put out one…

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Classic Rock, Comedy, Country, Holiday, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Soundtracks

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Faith Hope and Charity, Freddie Prinze, J. Cole, John Williams, Reba McEntire, Tegan and Sara, The Damnwells, The Flying Burrito Brothers

Meet Danny Wilson! Cherry Red Revisits Scottish Pop Heroes in New Box Set

December 12, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

One of the most underrated pop acts of the late ’80s will get the deluxe treatment in a new box set coming from Cherry Red next year: Scottish pop trio Danny Wilson. Complete Danny Wilson, due out February 28, will live up to its name across five discs comprising the band’s two studio albums – Meet Danny Wilson (1987) and Bebop Moptop (1989) – along with two discs of B-sides and rarities and a live show featuring several unreleased performances. The set was assembled with the participation of the band’s line-up (frontman/songwriter Gary Clark and…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Pop, Rock

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Danny Wilson, Gary Clark

And If the Sun Comes Up Tomorrow: Hootie & The Blowfish Plan New Box Set

December 11, 2024 by Mike Duquette | 5 Comments

More than 30 years after enjoying one of the most successful debut albums of all time, Hootie & The Blowfish will kick off 2025 with a new career-spanning box set on Rhino Records. The Atlantic Years 1994-2003, available January 25, brings together all four studio albums the quartet recorded for the label in their first decade – the chart-toppers Cracked Rear View (1994) and Fairweather Johnson (1996), Musical Chairs (1998) and their self-titled 2003 effort – plus the 2000 covers collection Scattered, Smothered & Covered. The box will be available as a 5CD set at general retail or a…

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